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Restoring the American chestnut tree

An American chestnut tree spreads a canopy of leaves on Traylor Renfro's mountaintop retreat on Oct. 10 in Grassy Creek, N.C. About 50 feet tall, the tree has yet to show signs of the blight that has all but wiped out the iconic American species.

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Restoring the American chestnut tree

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An American chestnut tree spreads a canopy of leaves on Traylor Renfro's mountaintop retreat on Oct. 10 in Grassy Creek, N.C. About 50 feet tall, the tree has yet to show signs of the blight that has all but wiped out the iconic American species.
Allen Breed, AP

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A 1910 image provided by the Forest History Society shows a person standing with three huge American chestnut trees near the Joyce Kilmer Memorial forest outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in western North Carolina. The American chestnut once towered over everything in forests from Georgia to Maine.
Forest History Society via AP

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Members of The American Chestnut Foundation tour a hybrid orchard on Oct. 19 outside Asheville, N.C. The organization is using such orchards to develop a tree that is mostly American but will resist a fungus that has driven the tree to near extinction.
Allen Breed, AP

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A canker erupts on a hybrid chestnut tree in a test orchard outside Asheville. Entering through wounds in the bark, the fungus threads its way through the straw-like vessels that carry water and nutrients from the ground to the tree's crown.
Allen Breed, AP

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A chestnut seedling sprouts in the shadow of an older tree in a test orchard outside Asheville.
Allen Breed, AP

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Jim Hurst stands in his hybrid chestnut. He hopes the trees on his farm will hold the key to restoring the American chestnut.
Allen Breed, AP

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Tree geneticist Paul Sisco leads members of The American Chestnut Foundation on a tour of a hybrid American chestnut orchard.
Allen Breed, AP

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Members of The American Chestnut Foundation tour a hybrid orchard. The organization is hoping to develop a tree that is mostly American but will resist a blight that has killed millions of trees.
Allen Breed, AP

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Burs from an American chestnut tree litter the ground.
Allen Breed, AP

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Traylor Renfro holds two burs from an American chestnut tree on his property in Grassy Creek, N.C.
Allen Breed, AP

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An American chestnut tree spreads a canopy of leaves on Traylor Renfro's mountaintop retreat on Oct. 10 in Grassy Creek, N.C. About 50 feet tall, the tree has yet to show signs of the blight that has all but wiped out the iconic American species.